The disclosure herein relates generally to ultrasound imaging. More particularly, the disclosure herein pertains to ultrasound imaging methods and systems for use in, e.g., diagnostic and/or therapy applications (e.g., imaging of blood vessels and/or regions proximate thereto, etc.).
Vascular imaging is gaining increased attention not only as a way to detect cardiovascular diseases, but also for the evaluation of response to new anti-atherosclerotic therapies (see, Ainsworth, et al., “3D ultrasound measurement of change in carotid plaque volume—A tool for rapid evaluation of new therapies,” Stroke, vol. 36, no. 9, pp. 1904-1909, September 2005). Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) has been shown to provide an effective tool in measuring the progression or regression of atherosclerotic disease in response to therapies. However, IVUS is invasive, potentially risky, and more expensive than noninvasive imaging with ultrasound.
Advanced imaging modes on ultrasound scanners have led to increased interest in imaging important quantities like wall shear rate (WSR) using Doppler (see, Blake, et al., “A method to estimate wall shear rate with a clinical ultrasound scanner,” Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 760-764, May 2008) and tissue/wall motion (see, Tsou et al., “Role of ultrasonic shear rate estimation errors in assessing inflammatory response and vascular risk,” Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 963-972, June 2008; Karimi et al., “Estimation of Nonlinear Mechanical Properties of Vascular Tissues via Elastography,” Cardiovascular Engineering, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 191-202, December 2008; and Weitzel, et al., “High-Resolution Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging to Evaluate Dialysis Fistula Stenosis,” Seminars In Dialysis, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 84-89, January-February 2009) using speckle tracking.
Recently, there has been increased interest in imaging flow in conjunction with computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling the evaluation of large artery hemodynamics (see, Steinman et al., “Flow imaging and computing: Large artery hemodynamics,” ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, vol. 33, no. 12, pp. 1704-1709, December 2005; Figueroa, et al., “A computational framework for fluid-solid-growth modeling in cardiovascular simulations,” Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 198, no. 45-46, pp. 3583-3602, 2009; and Taylor et al., “Open problems in computational vascular biomechanics: Hemodynamics and arterial wall mechanics,” Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 198, no. 45-46, pp. 3514-3523, 2009). In this context, modeling fluid-solid interfaces has been defined as a challenge area in vascular mechanics.